With all this emphasis on study and reflection, you don’t want to neglect actual experiences. You absorb much of your understanding of the world through sensory interaction and experiment, and to ignore this would be to cut yourself off from the most significant source of inspiration. You need to regularly seek experiences that will enlighten you, help you see the world in new ways, and open you to new ways of thinking.
Much has been written regarding the importance of play to our growth and development. Play is the primary way children learn, and recent research has shown that play can contribute significantly to the learning of adults as well. Play helps us maintain emotional stability, too, which can be important to our overall energy level and capacity for good work.
Many of us are caught in the same routines and patterns day after day and week after week. We rarely venture outside these routines because they have proven effective for us. While it’s admirable to be disciplined and focused, we don’t want to leave great creative insights on the table simply because we’d rather stay in our comfort zone. We must deliberately build new, different, and challenging experiences into our lives. This means setting aside time to put ourselves in stimulating and even purposefully uncomfortable situations so that our minds are forced to see the world in new ways. Here are just a few suggestions for how to do this:
Take a walk around a local park or make a trip to a local museum
What catches your attention? Is there anything that seems strange to you or piques your curiosity? What have you not noticed before? Be purposeful and mindful. Turn off your phone. Naturally, you will take your notebook with you. Record any thoughts or insights that pop into mind. Don’t be afraid to record thoughts that don’t relate to your work. It’s possible that insights formed here may develop into something very valuable down the road. If you can’t get to a park or museum, just take thirty minutes over lunch, leave your phone on your desk, and go for a quick walk around the block.
Serve others
When we are forced to think less about ourselves and are instead required to think about the needs of others, something is unlocked inside us. Because creative work can be very consuming, we can get lost in an endless pursuit of our personal needs. Making a break from thinking about ourselves and our problems for a while often frees up insight that is lurking just beneath the surface. Our act of service doesn’t have to be anything significant or earth changing. You can get involved in youth mentorship, coach a kids sports team, or serve at a local soup kitchen. The main thing is that you stop worrying about yourself for a while and instead focus on serving others. Not only do you benefit creatively from this, but you also get to change the world in small but significant ways.
Attend an uncomfortable event
Make plans to attend a lecture by someone who holds a differing point of view. Visit a religious service that is outside of your own tradition or comfort zone. If you are an introvert, go to a dance club or a party. If you are an extrovert, spend some extended time on your own. A good gauge for this is to ask yourself, “What makes me uncomfortable just thinking about doing it?” The goal is to stretch yourself, to resist the temptation to gravitate toward comfort. In so many ways, comfort is the enemy of creativity. When we default to comfort out of fear of the unknown, we often ignore the paths that may change our life. Taking small steps to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations is one way of interrupting the comfort-seeking pattern.
The purpose of structuring purposeful experiences into our life is to grow the reservoir from which we draw insights. Much has been written on this subject over time, but common sense is not common practice. Some of the very things that are most helpful to our creative process seem like common sense, but we must not make the tragic mistake of dismissing them because of that.
Question: What experience will you structure into your life this week in order to stretch your thinking and challenge your perspective?
* Source: The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry